Staying afloat (a lesson from the Lower lands)

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

A Dutch family friend of mine lives in one of those neat floating houses in the "water quarters" in Amsterdam which were built back in 2011. He told me about what life is like in such a place, and said that, although the architects were claiming those houses were perfectly stable and their residents could hardly ever feel a tremor, in fact whenever a storm came to the area, they definitely could feel it. "But it's not something one can't get used to, anyway - and I can hardly imagine a home more perfect than this", he concluded.

The floating homes as they're called are simply houses that are put on a huge floating concrete podium filled with styrofoam - unsinkable, as the architects say. It's a specific construction where each of the houses is attached to their respective pylons in such a way that would guarantee their immobility. The good thing is they could change their position if need be, which is a big advantage when you want to adapt to an environment where the sea level is constantly changing.

( And change it sure does! )